Alissa would do well to remember what she did 3 years ago at Worlds in Los Angeles after a similarly disheartening SP skate left her well out of the last 2 LP groups. With the pressure off, she rebounded quite nicely in the LP to finish 8th in that segment and 11th overall. It was a much deeper field of ladies at that Worlds, being the pre-Olympic season, than Worlds this year, so she has to have hope that if she can muster the same type of performance in the LP here, then a top 10 finish is not out of the realm of possibility.

I thought her program was good aside from the jumps and falls. I know what that sounds like. I agree that the pressure is off and she can just go out there and skate for herself. The 3rd spot is lost, even though that was just an outside chance given the recent performances. I hope she skates to her ability and goes out with a bang! It is unlikely she will be held up again at Nationals like she was this year. She'll be a terrific show skater.

Love Mao, Carolina, Alissa but I also love Akiko and I think it would be awesome for her to take the prize. Hey I wouldn't mind Elene taking the crown. I'm also hoping Ashley and Alissa skate great to get 3 spots back. ..nevermind on this point since Alissa is in 16th place...wow. Need to stop being surprised.

Alyssa could have been scored even lower too imho. I honestly don't see how Kostner or Mukami deserved to beat Leonova. Really I don't see any of the skaters worthy of world gold otther than Alyssa, Ashley or Mao if they are on because Carolina has never been in my mind a real champion without the lutz. Asquared (Ash and Aly are out of gold contention now probably) so it is up to Mao. But Alena deserves a medal; for years Carolina has been the lucky one and gotten medals left and right despite some awful skates so I think Alena deserves one too.

All three of them are gold material but only if they deliver and so far, no one has. Ashley is probably out of gold medal contention but stranger things have happened. Who actually thought Alena was going to win the SP? People were off of their game today and Alena capitalized on that. Who wins comes down to who has the best skate of the night and if Ashley lays it down in the LP and others fail to deliver she could end up in 1st place...it's not probable but it is possible. Alissa recovering enough to win gold is probably impossible. She'd have to raise her technical content (to like a 3lz-3t and a 2a-3t) and deliver everything perfectly...the likelihood of that happening is very very very very low...

As for Alena, she deserves a medal when and if she earns it. Winning the SP doesn't guarantee you a medal; she's going to have to earn it. And for the record I still don't believe Carolina deserved that silver medal she won in 2008; that is Yukari Nakano's medal in my mind.

If this doesn't tell USFS to STOP basing the World team solely on Nationals, I don't know what will. They need to send to Worlds those who are skating well NOW, not those who skated well (or were held up!) TWO whole months ago. It seems to work well for gymnastics. Zhang has never gotten her due domestically; she historically scores better internationally. USFS needs to get a clue. Zhang's bronze at 4CC combined with Czisny's all out bomb at a no-pressure Challenge Cup should have been the cue to send Zhang to Worlds. Zhang is hitting a TRIPLE LOOP TRIPLE LOOP in the SHORT PROGRAM, for pete's sake!